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1/31/17

A few months ago when I was in Los Angeles I popped into a thrift store that I always frequent when I'm there.... and purchased a small resin miniature domed house. I only paid $4.00 for this little resin house, what a deal! I thought it would make an adorable miniature house for a little Tinker Bell doll I have. The outside of this house needed a good scrubbing, as did the carpet of dust that had accumulated on the floor of the mini-house. Yuck.

There is a lot of detail in this little house-- that I figured just needed a few things done to it to bring it to life.

I painted the little mounded house to look like it was made up of rocks and dirt. I also added green moss, flowers and real rocks to the top of the domed house, along with some jewelry quality rhinestones for a little sparkle. For each window I vewwy-vewwy carefully added some plastic to the inside of each window frame. That alone took me three days to create, due to the fact once each window was set in place it took a full 24 hours for the glue to set up.
I love how the windows were created to look like they were made with sticks....
I think the moss really makes the entire piece come to life.
Initially, I was going to create little bricks to hand set in place inside this little house--- but then I had an "ah-ha" moment when I was wondering what to do with a bag of glass seed beads I had recently bought for mere pennies--- use it for a flooring in the little house! I coated the floor with Modge Podge and poured in handfuls of beads and swirled it around until the floor was covered. Once the glued on beads had dried, I coated some Modge Podge over the top of the beads to help set them in place. So sparkly! I love it!

Once the house was painted inside and out and the floor was finished, I used E6000 glue to adhere the miniature house onto a thick substantial candlestick. Now it's coming together!

I had plans to fully load up this little house with all kinds of miniature goodies..... I have a lot of miniature stuff!!! Most of these items shown below would be fabulous in a little country store.....

Miniature Christmas stuff?

I've got that too....

But alas, everything just seemed to big for this little house! Skunked again! For now I just have a little stool turned into a table with a few small mini's inside the tiny house.

I am thinking of furnishing the little house with handmade items that I can control the scale on. Also, adding little things like a thimble for a seat, a little tin box for a bed... etc. That would be super cute!

I had to style Tink's hair so she looked presentable.... Gosh, why do they put so much hair on these little dolls? Below you can see how she looked before I fixed her hair. She was a .25¢ find at a yard sale. I simply snipped off her pony tail, glued her hair to her head with Elmer's glue--- then rolled a little bun out of a few strands of hair from her pony tail--- and hot glued that sucker to her head. I also thinned out her bangs.

It is going to be fun to try different things inside this little house to get it furnished. Fun times, fun times~

Now, I'm on the lookout for a miniature store front and a little house I can make into Santa's workshop!

1/27/17

With the rainy/cold weather we have been having lately-- I have been staying indoors a lot more which of course is driving me bonkers! I'm such a big baby when it comes to cold weather. It is a running joke amongst some of my friends that I even survive the frigid cold... ha, ha... I do live in California- not in a snowy-zero temperature state... I get the humor, but its cold none the less--- trust me. Trust.Me.
While perusing Pinterest, I found a tutorial for snap bag pencil cases. The tutorial is provided by the company "Therm-o-web" They use their product in the making of the pencil case... but, seeing how I didn't have any on hand- and I didn't want to go out in the freezing death-chill-cold & rain to get some, I made do with what I had on hand. I used a little spray adhesive and glued on a piece of felt in place of the fusible interfacing that the company had recommended using. It worked like a charm! What makes them snap open and closed is two pieces of a metal tape measure that is encased in the top section of the bag. I think it turned out cute and it was easy peasy to make...

1/16/17

Next month is the start of Girl Scout cookie sales for my grandaughter's Brownie troop. Every year she sells over 1,000 boxes of cookies!

I thought it would be cute for my grandaughter to pass out OWL coffee cup cozies along with a note advertising that if they would like to purchase some Girl Scout Cookies, that she had some for sale! I made a bunch of these owl cup cozies for her to pass out to some of the teachers and staff at her elementary school.

You can't see it to well in these photos, but the little owls have an eyebrow that is 3 dimensional.

They fit nicely over a coffee cup...

I packaged up each coffee cup cozy with a label at the top proclaiming she has cookies for sale... and her room number *wink*.... (her last name and classroom number have been removed in this photo below) On the flip side of each package, I added a list of the Girl Scout cookies that they are selling this year. This of course should help those that are not familiar with which cookies are being offered.

It was fun to dabble with a crochet hook again. With this colder weather
upon us--- I just want to sit in front of my little heater and not
move!
big hugs,
Cheryl

1/3/17

Ah... another new year. Sweet~
New beginnings, new calendars, new resolutions.... Over the last few years I've come across people choosing to adopt a "word" that they can focus on that sums up what they want to be/achieve or how to live. When talking with a fellow blogger I spoke of how I would have to change my word to suit my mood as I don't stick to things for to long as I get bored and lose interest rather quickly.... then it hit me, why not make my word for the year, "CHANGE" Well there you go, my word for the year. Change.

Maybe it would be a gentle reminder to change up my normal routine...

Encourage me to mix it up a bit and go outside my comfort zone to try something new...

It will also remind me to chuck my change into the large change jar I've recently acquired.

Yes, I think Change is going to be a good word for this upcoming year. ...if it isn't, I'll just change it when the whim hits me to better suit my needs!*wink* (more than likely, my word will be REMEMBER--- remember you've got a "word" for the year!)
big hugs,
Cheryl

I am a mixed media artist. I love to sew, embroider, crochet and create things using vintage objects. I love: old classic cars, vintage fabrics, old buttons, cats, shabby chic furniture & linens.... chewing gum, diet pepsi, sneakers, chocolate and gardening~ I like to rummage through thrift stores, yard sales, estate sales and the occasional curbside trash pile. I don't mind getting dirty for treasures! I like to repurpose found objects throughout my home and garden.